Tag Archives: Second World War

I dedicated When the Future Comes Too Soon to my late maternal grandmother, Chang Kim Eng. More than anyone else, she bore the brunt of my curiosity about the war and Japanese occupation. I know how much she shared with me because on my last visit to my parents’ house, my mother dug out sheets of notes in my childish handwriting, which must have been taken during one of the many conversations I had with my grandmother.

She passed away in 1993, when I was already in England and did not get the chance to say goodbye. While writing this novel, I thought a lot about her and about grandparents everywhere, who have so much to offer younger generations. Unfortunately they usually leave this world before we have the chance to have truly meaningful conversations with them. Much of what my grandmother told me, I was too young to understand at the time. I console myself by imagining how proud she would be today.

When the Future Comes Too Soon is an emotional story of a woman trying to save herself and her family in a time of war. It blends the exotic setting of Japanese-occupied Malaya with eternal questions that cross cultures and time. The following comment from an early reader has really touched me:

As part of the publicity campaign for this new book, I’ll be interviewed on British and European radio and will appear in newspapers, magazines and blogs! I will also be meeting with book groups in London, where I live; in New York City which I’ll be visiting in October; and in Orlando, Florida in December. If you belong to a book and/or women’s group and would like to meet me, please contact my publicist Angelle Barbazon at JKS Communications (Angelle@jkscommunications.com). You can also get in touch via the Contact Form on my website www.siakchinyoke.com.

If you haven’t pre-ordered your book, here are some of the outlets selling it: